A humorist in the tradition of Mark Twain and Robert Benchley, Calvin Trillin has been offering up his sly observations to magazine readers for decades, as a political "doggerelist" (The Deadline Poet) and columnist (Uncivil Liberties). He has also uncapped his pen to discuss the joys of family life and the pleasures of chasing down the perfect meal. "I'm a writer who never quite got his act together," he wryly observes in our interview. "Basically I'm a reporter who does other things, although lately I've begun to think of myself as a grandfather who writes on the side."